Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants to make the food, which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.
太空是一个危险的地方，不仅仅是因为流星，还因为来自太阳和其他恒星的射线。大气层再次成为我们在地球上的保护毯。光可以穿透，这对植物制造我们所吃的食物至关重要。高温也使我们的环境变得可以忍受。各种各样的射线从外太空穿过空气，但来自太阳的大量辐射被屏蔽了。人类一离开大气层，就会暴露在这种辐射下，但如果他们穿着宇航服或呆在航天器内，就可以防止大量的辐射损伤。
Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called rem. Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage-a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a large amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.
辐射是太空探险者已知的最大危险，辐射单位被称为雷姆。科学家有理由认为，一个人可以忍受远高于0.1雷姆的辐射而不会受到损害；公认的雷姆数字是60。问题是，要确定辐射损伤是非常困难的——一个人感觉很好，但他或她的性器官细胞可能会受损，直到畸形的孩子甚至孙辈出生后才能发现。阿波罗号的飞行任务必须穿过高辐射带，在往返旅程中，阿波罗号机组人员积累了大量的辐射。到目前为止，还没有危险辐射量的报告，但阿波罗任务时间很短。我们只是不知道当人们在太空实验室工作数周或数月时，他们会过得怎么样。药物可能有助于减少辐射造成的损害，但迄今为止还没有发现真正有效的药物。
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